Dissent NewsWire

Until safeguards are put in place to prevent mission creep and other abuses of data collected through electronic contact tracing, the privacy and security of Americans could be undermined long after the emergency has ended

On May 5, Defending Rights & Dissent hosted an important virtual town hall meeting on incarceration during the coronavirus entitled “We’re Dying In Here: Incarceration & Coronavirus,” moderated by DRAD communications director Quentin Anthony Anderson and featured panelists such

Defending Rights & Dissent joined with the Athena Coalition, Fight for the Future, Free Press, Media Justice and dozens of other justice groups on this statement in support of warehouse and other lower-income workers blowing the whistle on unsafe working

The First of May is commemorated around the world as International Workers Day or May Day. Its origins lay in the Haymarket Massacre, an infamous act of state repression designed to bludgeon the burgeoning US workers’ movement. Instead of defeating the workers’ movement and its demand for a more just world, it sparked international solidarity. Today, throughout the United States and the world, workers, including at Amazon, Target, and Whole Foods, are continuing to fight for their basic rights as workers. Their collective action aimed at building a more just world represents the power and importance of free speech and the right to protest.

Last week, during the Defending Rights & Dissent/The Nation’s town hall on Civil Liberties and COVID-19, our board member and Project Souths’ Legal & Advocacy Director Azadeh Shahshahani gave a harrowing account of conditions inside ICE detention in Georgia. She also talked about the inspiring organizing activists were doing to end them. When I asked her during the town hall what can those watching at home could do, she urged everyone to contact Congress about the FIRST Act.

Dissent and protest are protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees freedoms of speech, assembly, and the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances. These rights are fundamental to our democracy. They cannot be

On April 5, 2010 Wikileaks published a classified U.S. military video documenting the killing of 12 people in Baghdad that included a Reuters photojournalist and his driver. Collateral Murder, as the video is known, contradicted the military’s official version of

In a stunning 48-hour period this week, the President Donald Trump essentially admitted that he fired Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson for properly exercising the duties of his job and his administration relieved Capt. Brett Crozier, a decorated Navy

“Not in my backyard!” That’s how those of us on the frontlines of prison reform advocacy here in Louisiana are interpreting a recent plan released by the state on how the Department of Corrections is confronting the crisis surrounding COVID-19

Yet again, the FBI has failed to uphold basic safeguards to protect US persons from illicit surveillance. The Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General issued a memorandum stating it did not have confidence the FBI was following its

To encourage social distancing and limit the spread of the coronavirus, nearly one in five Americans have been asked by state and local officials to stay at home during the crisis. Officials and medical experts say this extraordinary measure, an

Defending Rights & Dissent has been working with community organizations to make sure necessary public health precautions don’t inadvertently lead to increased over-policing. We’ve prepared this guide that can help.

On Wednesday, March 25 at 3:30 PM (ET), Defending Rights & Dissent participated in a press briefing with other DC community leaders via conference call. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MARCH 25, 2020 WASHINGTON, D.C. – As businesses and individuals in the

"If states and localities act swiftly, we can create an elections system that operates safely, efficiently, and accessible to all. Under no circumstances should the November general election be canceled or postponed."